Black Diamonds (17 page)

Thrusting his body away, he moved towards the fireplace. His hands gripped the edge of the mantelpiece, his fingers taut against the wood. After a moment, he turned back, his jaw set hard. “I’m getting tired of you always jumping to conclusions.”

The accusation stung. “I don’t always jump to conclusions!”

“Yes you do. I’ve been trying to make allowances for you, because of your grief, because of the stress you’ve been under. But you must admit; you always believe the worst. You heard that I had been married, and you immediately jumped to the conclusion that I was a cheat and a liar, didn’t you?”

“Well you had been married.” Though she had jumped instantly to that conclusion, she recalled uneasily.

“And divorced. But you didn’t wait for the whole story. You were ready to condemn me before you asked me about it. Now you’re doing it again.”

Jackie reached over to the desk. Grabbing the email, she waved it at him. “I don’t think there’s much jumping to conclusions happening here! You’re threatening my business! What’s all this about taking my dam water?”

“‘
It appears that Paradise Truffle Farm use Antoine Estate’s dam water to irrigate their trees
,’” she read aloud. “‘
No agreement for use … The dam is on Antoine Estate land as far as we can make out. There may be room for some arm twisting on that score
.’”

The paper fluttered onto the desk as she flung it towards him. “So, you were planning some arm twisting, were you? Or did you decide to use another method? A slightly more … pleasurable one?”

As his whole body went still her heart seemed to skip a beat.

“Be careful.” Xavier’s warning held a dangerous undercurrent. “Be very careful.”

But she was beyond caution. “Did you think you’d get the price of Paradise Truffle Farm down by having a relationship with me? Smooth sales technique, was it?”

His mouth tightened. “So this is what you really think of me—that I would cheat you out of your land in such a way?”

“What am I supposed to think? All that business about wanting to take it slowly, that was just to soothe your conscience, wasn’t it? Wasn’t sleeping with me to get my truffle farm taking it a bit too far, even for you?”

“Enough!” Xavier roared like a lion. The force of his rage almost threw her backwards. “Stop these accusations! It’s time for the truth. It is your turn now, to listen to me.”

He seized her by the shoulders, his fingers digging into her flesh. “Your dam is on my land. Do you understand what that means? I’m not stealing from you. You’re stealing from me.”

Her mouth went dry. “That’s not possible.”

“
C’est vrai
. The dam is mine.”

Jackie wrenched herself away. “But we’ve always used that source of water, for as long as I can remember. How dare you suggest that my pa stole it?”

“Then why was he taking it from a dam next door?”

Fiercely, she insisted, “It’s Paradise water.”

“It’s Antoine Estate water. Your father took it.” Xavier’s voice lowered menacingly. “And now, you’re taking it from me.”

Her mouth dried. “But that water … we need it. That dam is the source of water for our hazel trees. Paradise Truffle Farm would be lucky to last a week before the whole place dried up if we lost our access to that dam.”

“
Oui
.” The single word cut like a knife.

“So you’re threatening me,” she said slowly.

“I’m not threatening you.” His clenched fists told her he was only just keeping his temper under control. “I wouldn’t cut off your water supply. But we do need to assess the status of that dam.”

“So you can charge me for the water? I can just imagine what price you’ll charge. If we add a huge water bill to our overheads, Paradise will have to close before I can even find a single truffle this year.” Hot tears burst from her eyes. “You know we’re struggling as it is.” Her voice cracked as she stared up at him. “Don’t you know I’ll never sell? My pa built that truffle farm for me. It’s all I’ve got left. I can’t sell Paradise. Ever.”

A flame flared in his eyes. He put his hand on her arm. “Jacaranda …”

She tore her body away. “No! Don’t touch me! You’ll never get Paradise Truffle Farm. Do you hear me?”

Tears gushing from her eyes, she made for the door.

“Jacaranda.
Arrete
! Stop!”

Cooking with Truffles

The truffle is easy to cook with, but you must know how to make it shine in a dish. And a fresh truffle is not cooked the same way a preserved one is. The fresh truffle is a living mushroom, which gives off its perfume for several days. The second is a dead mushroom, which will keep its perfume for about 1hr30mins after being taken out of its container. Therefore, when cooking with preserved truffles, during the 1h30mins it retains its character and odours, one needs to capture and enhance them. Additionally, when cooking with truffles, the proportions per person need to be respected, which is 8–10 grams per person. And finally, because the perfume of a truffle is very volatile and disappears rapidly, cooking time must be limited. Preserved truffles do not work in all recipes. The best way to use them is with eggs, cream, in butter or in a béchamel sauce. All preparations necessitate a minimum of time of contact between the truffle and other ingredients.

http://www.truffle-and-truffe.com

In the Truffle Tucker Cafe Mia glanced up in surprise. “Jackie! What on earth are you doing here? I didn’t think you were coming back from France yet!”

“A few things have changed,” Jackie said grimly.

She’d found out the truth about Xavier Antoine.

The memories of the last forty-eight hours churned inside her like travel sickness. At the chateau, after the terrible scene in the study, Jackie had raced upstairs to the pretty blue bedroom and packed her bags, insisting she wouldn’t stay another night. At first, Xavier had tried to stop her, demanding she listen to him, before withdrawing into a cold rage that chilled her to the bone. In the end, Henri had driven her to Perigueux airport. The trip in the limousine and the long flight back to Australia had been a form of torture, a complete reversal of the excited anticipation with which she’d set out on her journey to France.

“I’ve been longing to hear about your trip. Dean always says I’m far too much of a sticky beak. So, tell me, how did it go with Xavier Antoine?” Mia gave her a wink.

“I don’t care if I never see him again.”

Mia dropped the cloth she’d been using to wipe the counter. “What?”

Blinking back the tears threatening yet again, Jackie slumped down on a stool and rested her elbows on the counter. “Everything’s gone wrong.”

“What’s happened?”

“I don’t know where to start.”

A stunned expression on her face, Mia listened as Jackie told her the whole story. “I can’t believe it. I really liked that man.”

“So did I.” Jackie put her head in her hands. All her confidence as a woman seemed to have seeped away. Xavier’s attention had been about Paradise Truffle Farm, he hadn’t been interested in her, Jacaranda Riley. It had all been a lie. “Why do I seem to attract liars and cheats?”

“You’re thinking of your old boyfriend Simon. He was never good enough for you; we all believed that, even your dad. But Xavier Antoine … are you sure you’ve got all the facts right? This doesn’t make sense to me. When I met him, he didn’t seem the kind of man to do that sort of thing.”

Eve Armitage had believed that too. Her words came back, ringing in Jackie’s head.
Xavier’s one of the best men I know,
she’d said, as they strolled through the streets of Perigueux, their arms laden with shopping bags. It all seemed so long ago. She hadn’t even stopped to say goodbye to Bob and Eve, she thought with a pang, and she’d liked the American couple so much. All she had wanted was to get away from the chateau, and Xavier, as fast as possible.

“Don’t fall for all that French charm,” Jackie bit out the words. “I’ve already made that mistake.”

“You weren’t to know Xavier Antoine wanted to buy your truffle farm. Don’t blame yourself, love. It had been planned for a while, by the sound of things.”

“I didn’t have to offer myself up on a plate along with my business.” That’s what hurt her most, the way she’d been duped.

“But you looked so happy in that photo you sent me on your phone! I hadn’t ever seen you with a smile like that.”

“I was happy.” In her head, she saw Xavier’s face: the way he’d looked at her as he leant over to kiss her, the smile that played at the crook of his mouth, his dark eyes full of a deep passion. “I … I really fell for him. I’ve never felt that way about anyone before.”

Mia frowned. “I’m not sure feelings like that ever lie.”

“Xavier Antoine lies, as it turns out. And I trusted him. I don’t know why, but I did.”

The older woman put her hand over Jackie’s, warm and comforting. “Chin up. What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. I need to find out about this water problem before I do anything else. Did you ever hear Pa talk about our water supply at Paradise? Do you remember anything about it?”

Mia’s turquoise earrings jiggled as she shook her head. “I don’t. But Dean might. He’ll be back later I expect. Do you want me to call him now on his mobile phone?”

“No, it’s okay. Just ask him to call me when he gets back.”

“We’ll get to the bottom of it, don’t you worry. You mustn’t let this get you down. You’ve been through enough already.” She turned brisk. “Now, by the look of you, you’re pretty jetlagged. You haven’t slept, have you?”

“Not much.” The terrible scene with Xavier had replayed in her head, over and over, like a movie on a loop, for the whole journey.

“Have you eaten anything?”

Come to think of it, she recalled, she hadn’t touched anything on the plane. “I haven’t got much of an appetite.”

“Well you know how much I like a challenge like that.” Mia gave Jackie a smile that she tried to return. “Let me make you something to eat. You don’t look right to me at all.”

“Thanks, but I want to go home to the cottage to search through the office. There might be an agreement about using the dam water.” Part of her dreaded the task. The office hadn’t been cleared out properly since her father had died. She hadn’t had the heart to sort through all his papers.

“Don’t run away yet. You look done in. I’ll wrap something up for you and you can take it with you. I’ve got some mushroom pate bagels in the fridge, made with our very own truffle oil. You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Won’t be a jiffy.”

“Thanks.” Jackie dropped back onto the stool as Mia disappeared into the kitchen. Restlessly, she drummed her fingers on the wooden counter top. No Dean. She’d been relying on seeing him, hoping that he would be able to answer some of her questions.

Fevered thoughts ran through her brain.
What happened, Pa? Why were you using that dam for our trees?
She couldn’t remember him ever mentioning it.
Why are we using water Xavier says belongs to him? And what am I going to do if I can’t prove that Paradise Truffle Farm should have access to it?
A terrible vision of her hazel trees turning brown and lifeless rose up before her. She rubbed her sleeve across her stinging eyes.

“Here you go.” Mia returned with a foil wrapped package. “Now make sure you eat it, do you hear? Dean and I will come around this evening as soon as he gets back. We’ll find out what happened about the dam, don’t you worry.”

“Thanks.” Gratefully Jackie took the package. She needed her friends around her at the moment. If only, she thought in despair, to keep her mind off Xavier Antoine.

Jackie slammed the last drawer of the filing cabinet shut and pushed back her hair from her face with dusty fingers. Some of the files hadn’t been opened for years, and there didn’t appear to be any order to them. The desk was choked with bills, horticultural magazines, newspaper clippings from
The West Australian
and
The Irish Times
, which her father had always had delivered from Dublin, and a scratchy old tape recorder he used to play Celtic folk songs while he did the accounts, insisting it helped him add up. To no avail had Jackie tried to introduce him to CDs and Excel spreadsheets. The chaos in the office only confirmed what she already knew; that her pa had been terrible with paperwork. Not that it mattered. Growing up, he’d given her all the love and care she’d ever needed. How she wished she could ask him for some advice right now! She’d have given anything to hear his warm, Irish voice.

With a wince of pain, she stood up. After kneeling by the filing cabinet for hours, her legs were cramped and sore. She’d been so intent on getting into the files and searching for something, anything, to show that Paradise had a right to the water she’d always believed was theirs.

Through the window she saw the sun had gone down, leaving the landscape drained of its colour. Perhaps she should have listened to Xavier after all, she wondered uneasily, as she stared into the shadowy evening light. Her red-headed temper always got the better of her. Her pa had warned her about it. But the sight of that email! Every word seemed imprinted in her head.

‘It appears that Paradise Truffle Farm uses Antoine Estate’s dam water to reticulate their trees … The dam is on Antoine land …’

Switching off the office lights, she wished bitterly she could switch off her thoughts so easily.

Firmly she gave herself a mental shake. She would stop thinking about it, make herself some dinner, and open a bottle of wine.

Wandering through the sitting room, her eyes swept over the comfortable sofa, the wicker chairs with their leafy green print, the screened French doors that opened on to the courtyard, the fluttering white curtains letting in the evening air. Usually, when she came home from a trip, even a short one, she was relieved to be home. Somehow, that sense of homecoming was missing this time.

From the wine rack she pulled out an Australian merlot and studied the label. The mere sight of the wine bottle made her flinch. She’d tasted a French merlot, blindfolded in the study at the chateau. The taste of it returned to her tongue. She mustn’t let herself recall the touch of Xavier’s hands, the taste of his lips and other parts of his body she desired more than she’d ever known she could. But it seemed impossible. Would it always feel like this? How had it happened that everything in her life had become tainted by the memory of Xavier Antoine, like a wine left open in the bottle?